Exclusive: Obama to include GOPers at DNC

Advisers to President Barack Obama are scripting a Democratic National Convention featuring several Republicans in a prime-time appeal to independents — and planning a blistering portrayal of Mitt Romney as a heartless aristocrat who “would devastate the American middle class,” Democratic sources tell POLITICO.

According to convention planning documents, the three-night convention in Charlotte, N.C., early next month will seek to “[e]xpose Mitt Romney as someone who doesn’t understand middle class challenges” while also burnishing “the President’s image as someone whose life story is about fighting for middle class Americans and those working to get into the middle class.”

Each night of the convention will include a star turn for what planners call “real people” — for instance, an auto worker whose job was saved, a student who benefited from college loans and an entrepreneur fueled by federal research-and-development funds.

The most innovative — and harshest — element of the preliminary program is a nightly “social contrast” in which two people describe their personal experience with a hot-button issue — one person lauding the president’s actions, the other taking Romney to task. “Each paired-testimonial should have an ‘unexpected’ participant,” the documents say.

But the plans show organizers intent on steering clear of controversy as well. For the gay marriage social contrast, for instance, the documents state the participants should be “not a gay couple” — but a “parent and gay son or daughter.”

Other examples: “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: Gay soldier and fellow (straight) soldier who served together in Iraq or Afghanistan (ideally the straight soldier was helped by the gay soldier, i.e., medic, in fire fight) … Planned Parenthood: Husband who talks about how a PAP smear saved his wife’s life and his spouse … Immigration: Two young people from the same family, one who was born here, the other a few years older who was not … Choice: A couple who has children, but wants to make their own decisions, not have the government do it for them (or who has confronted a difficult medical situation).”

The documents also give a glimpse of what parts of Obama’s record will get the most attention in the campaign, with one piece — the auto bailout — rating several mentions in the plan. “Tell the story of the President’s accomplishments — the auto rescue, manufacturing, ending the war, health care, energy — as central to his fight for the middle class and America’s long-term economic strength,” is listed as one objective of the convention.

The plans are spelled out in an early draft of the convention plan, providing an unusual glimpse of presidential advisers’ thought bubble about what viewers will see from the podium — closed captioning of what strategist David Axelrod and other top advisers are thinking about each element of the television spectacle. The detailed plans also offer a preliminary road map of the Obama campaign’s big themes for the fall.

The details seem likely to change: The final convention plan will be a joint product of the campaign, the White House, outside advisers and the Democratic National Committee. But top Democrats say the draft reflects the thinking of the senior advisers, and the starting point for preparing a line-by-line program for Sept. 4-6.

Ben LaBolt, the Obama campaign’s national press secretary, said: “A number of speaking programs are under consideration for the convention, and the only ones that are final are those that have been announced. It’s no secret that the convention will both present the president’s vision and outline the choice that Americans will face in November.”

Aiming to connect the cerebral Obama with average Americans — and thus emphasize one of Romney’s most notable weaknesses — the convention will try to portray the president as “driven by the same values we have, because he’s faced the same struggles.”

First lady Michelle Obama will begin communicating that message when she speaks during the convention’s opening session on Tuesday night. Her planned remarks will reflect “the middle class values and orientation that POTUS brings to his job every day — how he makes tough decisions, what his north star is.”